The Sonoma Cheese Factory is located on the former site of the home of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Casa Grande, which was built in 1835.

When Prohibition began, the Sebastiani Vineyards stopped producing wine and Viviani started to make cheese at the now defunct Sonoma Mission Creamery.

Eventually, the lack of easy access to fresh milk, due to dairy farm industrialization, caused the Viviani's to focus strictly on semi-hard cheese.

[2] The Sonoma Cheese Factory struggled in the 1960s due to supply chain challenges regarding dairy production, which almost caused the company to close.

Towards the end of the 1960s, Pete Viviani relocated to Mexico with his family to produce powdered milk and cheese.

His son, David Viviani, and business partner Fred Harland operated the Factory.

The business saw success again with the expansion of a sandwich shop at Sonoma Valley High School and expanded retail operations at the Factory, which included offering local wines, and they implemented a new marketing campaign for Sonoma Jack cheeses.

It’s a delightful place with a huge variety of excellent cheeses and you can watch the cheese-making through big window.” - Michele Anna Jordan, Sonoma West Times and News, 1988[5]By the end of 1985, David Vivani served as president and Harland oversaw the cheese plant as general manager.

[4] The following year, the television program Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous shot an episode in Sonoma.

[12] They were the first cheese company in California to make a pepper Jack, which uses jalapeño and chili flakes for a spicy flavor.

[13][14] In 1987, the Sonoma Cheese Factory became the first California cheesemaker to win a medal in the United States Championship Cheese Contest, winning a gold and a bronze medal for their Sonoma Garlic Jack.